The University of the Fraser Valley men's soccer team kept its playoff hopes alive in heart-stopping fashion, edging the UBC Okanagan Heat 1-0 under relentless rainfall on Friday evening in Kelowna.
The intensity of the match was off the charts, as both teams came into the final weekend series of the regular season knowing that two wins would clinch them a playoff spot, while eliminating the other.
But in the end, it was the Cascades benefitting from a fortuitous bounce, as
Jun Won Choi's second goal of the season, in the 38th minute, gave them the lead.
Goalkeeper
Jackson Cowx and the UFV defence made that goal stand up, repelling the Heat's offensive forays throughout the second half.
With the win, the Cascades improve to 3-3-5 for 14 points – tied on points with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (who have one game in hand) for the fourth and final West Division playoff slot, and just one point back of the Trinity Western Spartans and UBC Thunderbirds.
A victory in Saturday's regular-season finale at UBCO (6:30 p.m.,
CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op) would be enough to lift UFV past TWU (which has already completed its regular-season schedule) and secure a playoff berth. A draw would also open possibilities for the Cascades in the playoff race, but they'd be depending on UBC to lose Saturday at UVic, or for TRU to take no more than one point in its Saturday-Sunday series at UNBC.
UBC Okanagan (2-5-4) was eliminated from the playoff chase with Friday's loss to the Cascades.
"We've broken it down into two Cup finals," UFV head coach
Tom Lowndes said, detailing his team's approach to the weekend at UBCO. "We've won one of the Cup finals, but we've done nothing yet. We've got to come back at it with the same effort tomorrow. We've put this in the back of our mind already."
The Heat came out firing on Friday – in the early going, Malachi Emerson snuck behind the UFV defence and Aidan Tuck threaded a pass to him, but Cowx came charging out to cut down the angle and make the save.
In the 24th minute, Cowx came up huge again. UBCO's Jimmy Steel sent in a corner kick and Josh Bhandal got his head on it, but the UFV keeper made a reflexive save to tip the ball off the crossbar, and
Nikhil Reddy managed to clear the ball out of harm's way.
The Cascades broke through in the 38th minute.
David Parfett's corner came up short and was cleared away by the Heat, but
Charandeep Rangi ran the ball down and lofted a high-arcing cross into the box. UBCO keeper Nicholas Reitsma and defender Sam McDonald converged on it, and McDonald rose to head it as Reitsma collided with him. The ball arced backward, clearing the Heat defensive corps, the all that was left for Choi was to run onto it and poke it into the wide-open net.
In the second half, the rain revved up while the fog rolled in, and the UFV side – in Lowndes's words – "defended heroically".
"It wasn't a pretty game – it was direct from both teams, and it came down to heart and desire," he said. "They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the last 15 minutes, and we weathered the storm and stuck together. Our backline was outstanding, our midfield as well, and we pressed them well up front. Just a complete team effort defensively.
"Jackson kept us in it – he's made a save on a one-on-one in the first five minutes, and then he's made probably the save of the season, tipping it off the bar. He's managed the game really well in the second half, too."
